France is to ban smoking in all public places from next February, the prime minister has announced. Cafes, nightclubs and restaurants are to be given until January 2008 to adapt, said Dominique de Villepin. Those found in breach of the ban would be fined - 75 euros (£50) for individuals and 150 euros for the premises where the offence occurred. Smoking kills more than 13 people a day in France, said Mr de Villepin - calling it an "unacceptable reality". Mr de Villepin made the announcement in a television interview. "We started on the basis of a simple observation - two figures: 60,000 deaths a year in our country linked directly to tobacco consumption and 5,000 deaths linked to passive smoking. "That makes more than 13 deaths a day. It is an unacceptable reality in our country in terms of public health," he said. This is so phony, Politicians concerned about your health. Do you think they would try this if the smokers had more votes than the nonsmokers? Time for a smoke ... http://news.bbc.co.uk

THE REGION: A largely arid plateau in western Sudan about three-quarters the size of Texas with a population estimated at about 8 million. THE CONFLICT: More than 200,000 people have died since ethnic African tribes rebelled in February 2003 after years of neglect by the Arab-dominated government in Khartoum. The government responded with a military campaign in which pro-government Arab militia, the janjaweed, are alleged to have committed widespread atrocities. Khartoum denies supporting the janjaweed. More than 2.5 million people have fled their homes. THE PLAYERS: Sudan's government: President Omar al-Bashir has refused to allow the U.N. to take over the peacekeeping operation from the small and poorly equipped African Union force. Human rights and humanitarian groups allege the government has launched military offensives in violation of a May peace agreement and has failed to disarm the janjaweed. ...http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=2542340

A candidate in local elections in the US state of Minnesota is having trouble persuading voters not to elect him. Paul Herold does not want to hold public office, but voters in the town of Blaine have catapulted him into the final stage of the municipal election. Mr Herold originally signed up to run for City Council but landed a new job that he said would not allow him enough time to devote to his constituents. The father-of-two is now campaigning for his opponent - and hoping to lose. The ambivalent candidate was told by City Hall officials that he had missed the deadline to remove his name from the primary ballot list. They suggested that he simply not campaign for next month's poll. Mr Herold did more than that - he phoned friends and neighbours asking them to vote for anyone but him. He also took his plight to local media pleading for non-support....http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6031611.stm

A model of the Starship Enterprise has sold for $576,000 (£308,000) at an auction of memorabilia from 40 years of the science fiction television series. Before the sale, Christie's auction house in New York estimated the model would sell for about $30,000 (£16,000). The 78-inch-long (198cm) miniature of the Enterprise-D, used in the title sequences of Star Trek: The Next Generation, made its TV debut in 1987. More than 1,000 Star Trek items were sold over three days at the auction. Built by Industrial Light and Magic, the model was first used in the 1987 Star Trek episode Encounter at Farpoint, and also appeared in the film Star Trek Generations. Estimates were regularly surpassed during the three-day auction in Manhattan, with fans spending more than $7.1m (£3.8m) for set furniture, pointy Vulcan ears and other props...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4801631.stm

Tens of thousands of people have marched through the Venezuelan capital, Caracas, in support of the main opposition candidate, Manuel Rosales. Mr Rosales will face President Hugo Chavez in December's presidential poll. The march, which filled the main avenues of the city centre, was the biggest opposition rally Venezuela has seen since early 2004. Then, protesters made an unsuccessful bid to oust Mr Chavez from power in a recall referendum. Chance to unite Young and old took to the streets to throw their weight behind the campaign of Mr Rosales, a middle-class Social Democrat who governs the state of Zulia, on the Colombian border. Many claimed that they were seeking liberty and democracy and that made Mr Rosales their only option: ...http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4801521.stm

Spain and the United States have reached an agreement to clean up radioactivity in the Spanish farming village of Palomares, on Spain's southeast tip, 40 years after two U.S atomic bombs fell in the area after a midair collision, news reports said on Sunday.The agreement to clean the area was reached at a meeting mid-September between the U.S. Department of Energy and Spain's CIEMAT, the national Center for Energy and Environment Investigation, leading Madrid daily El Pais reported.The accident took place on the morning of Jan. 17, 1966, when a B-52 bomber collided with a flying tanker while refueling over Palomeras and released all four of its hydrogen bombs in the ensuing explosion....http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218559,00.html